September Events

We have a lot of things going on in September to honor the 1st Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

September 5th is the opening of Geno Loro's photo exhibit "Life-through the eyes of a child with Neuroblastoma" at the Ft. Worth Community Arts Center from 6-8pm

September 13th is our first Bake Sale at the Brookshires in Midlothian

September 17th will be a Family Fun Night at Alley Cats in Arlington from 4-9pm. Cost is $20/person. Contact Jena Perkins for more information sgp_warrior_mom@yahoo.com

September 26th is our first Pre-game Spaghetti Dinner at the Midlothian Civic Center. All you can eat spaghetti, garlic bread and salad, $8 person.

Help us celebrate the fight these children are facing and honor those that have won the ultimate battle. These kids can't do it without us!

Where are all the volunteers??

We are looking for you! We need your help!

We are going to meet at Spring Creek BBQ in Grand Prairie (Carrier & I20) this Saturday, July 26th at 11am to start divying up areas of need, (Food, beverages, catering, security, parking, rentals.... etc.)

We might just have a location figured out by then!

We're getting down to the wire, we need to get this all planned so we can get the word out and advertise our event and get infitations printed and sent.

So, volunteers, where are you! WE NEED YOU!

Pizza and a Purpose

Saturday, June 28th, from Noon-2pm, my foundation will be holding a Meet and Greet to recruit new committee members. If you read this blog and live in the DFW area, PLEASE come out to learn more about what we are doing, who we are supporting and what's in it for you!

We will be meeting at Pizzaiolo's in Grand Prairie. We'll provide the pizza if you provide your time!

Let's Start Making Money!!!!

We now have our employer ID and can start taking tax deductible donations while we are in the process of filing our Nonprofit paperwork. We have cleared that with the IRS and our Lawyer, which, by the way Debbie found for us!

Now we just need to start getting donations and start getting our volunteer staff up and running.

What we need from you?
1. donations
2. help with our committees
3. donations
4. contacts for donations!

If you are interested in helping, please email myself or Chelsea and let us know so we can give you all the meeting details!

Success!

Our first planning meeting went VERY well! We have our Executive Board of Directors figured out and are working on the rest of the Board. We have our CPA and are working to get a lawyer to help us file our articles of incorporation and our bylaws.

Man, it feels good to be getting somewhere and having help with this!

Thank you to everyone that came and to anyone else reading this, if you want to volunteer to help on a committee (fundraising, events, promotions....) please let us know! We need help, we can't do this alone. We need all the people we can get that are committed to funding a cure for Neuroblastoma!

WE NEED YOU!!!

First Planning Meeting

We will be holding our first planning meeting on April 25th. We will discuss the Board of Directors, Officers and what positions everyone wants to commit to. We'll also discuss our fundraisers for this year and get working on those and our Charity Ball for January 3rd!

It's a lot of work to start a foundation and I know we are in for even more work once we get set up and official, but it's worth it! To be able to help finacially support our very own NB center and help other families struggling with NB, words can't describe how fulfilling it is and will continue to be. It's personal.

Applications Underway!

I just applied to reserve our Foundation (inc.) name and I'm working on finishing up our Corporation (have to be formed as one to get 501 (c) (3) status too) and our non-profit forms underway!

We also have Willow Tree Figurines headed this way FOR SURE and we are working on a few other silent auction items. If you have any ideas, please share. We want this to be good for everyone! That's how we will be successful in raising money for our NB Center!

My family and I are meeting April 25th to get our Board Members figured out and decide who to ask for our Board of Directors.

We are making baby steps but it will all be worth it come January 3rd, 2008!

We Might Get a Treat!

I love collecting the Willow Tree figurines. My husband bought me the first one for my first Mother's Day and I have recently gotten more during our hospital visits.

I had the thought to at least ask the lady that makes them (Susan Lordi) if she could make one that represented the battle our children are going through with NB, or cancer in gerneral. I sent an email to the general email and didn't expect anything more than someone writing back or getting a formated reply that it wasn't possible.

Instead, I got a reply from Karen Lordi (Susan's sister)! They already have quite a few fundraisers on their plate now and to add another design and fundraising campaing is a very big ordeal, so they can't really do that now. BUT, Karen said they are cleaning out a production closet and can send me some older producttion and factory sample figurines and angels that are all signed by Susan Lordi.

If this all works out and we are able to get some, I will be auctioning them off at our Charity Ball!

One more reason to come!

Fundraising Efforts!!!

We now have a direction we are going with our fundraising efforts.

Our next goal, to start holding fundraisers! We have a few ideas in mind but need your feedback to make sure you are as excited about them as we are.

1. 1st Friday of each new year we'll have a NB charity ball
2. Annual Golf Tourney
3. Ft. Worth Zoo day (I'm focusing a lot of time on this one to see what they will let us do...)

I want everyone in the family to have something special for them. The families are affected in different ways, but just as much as the patients. They all need something special just for them!


Your job now is to leave me feedback and let me know if these sound good and if you have ideas, please share!

Now, click on the comments button!

Starting Out

As we start on this new journey towards helping other families affected with cancer, I am curious what things your family most needed when you were going through diagnosis, treatments and the many, many hospital visits. I know my husband and I are lucky enough to have family around to help with our kids and getting us to clinics and to ER trips and everything else in between. What did you need most? Someone to cry to? A computer and camera to track your journey? Money for food and gas? Family around? Friends that actually knew what you were going through? Someone who knows what ANC means or what neutropenic means, or understands the side effects of doxorubicin? What about toiletries or a comfortable pillow that isn't and inch think and covered in vinyl?

What is it that you and your child needed the most that wasn't provided by the hospital or another organization already?

Our goal in starting this foundation is to find out the biggest need that isn't already being cared for and fill in. We've spent many long days and nights on the HemOnc floor and as many long days in clinic and we were lucky to, for the most part, have our needs met by family or friends when the need wasn't already covered by Candlelighters or Child Life or any of the other dozens of groups there.

I hope that once we find a need we will be able to fill it rather quickly and to your satifaction. Please email us or leave us a comment below and let us know your story and what you would like to see us do.

We are in this for the long haul, might as well have the most pleasent trip possible!

With much love and many prayers,

Kurt and Heather MacDonnell